{"id":118939,"date":"2014-03-07T08:25:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T13:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=118939"},"modified":"2014-03-07T08:25:35","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T13:25:35","slug":"kentucky-church-gun-giveaway-story-shoots-straight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/03\/kentucky-church-gun-giveaway-story-shoots-straight\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky church gun giveaway story shoots straight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Churches offering free items, services or even doughnuts to their neighbors isn\u2019t news.<\/p>\n

When they offer 25 long guns and shotguns as door prizes, however, people (and the press) take notice.<\/p>\n

The Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah are making headlines this week for doing just that: inviting 1,000 or so unchurched, mostly young men to a free steak dinner and gun giveaway Thursday night labeled as a \u201cSecond Amendment Celebration\u201d in hopes of \u201cluring them to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Louisville\u00a0Courier-Journal<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a> on the Southern Baptist-affiliated event in its weekend edition a few days ago, and since then several news outlets have picked up the story.<\/p>\n

Who does the best job of shining a light on (nearly) every angle of the story? The Courier-Journal,<\/em> whose story was picked up by Gannett flagship\u00a0USA Today.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>While every story I read does the subject justice, the outlet goes deeper and wider to include more perspectives and history than the competition:<\/p>\n

The goal is to \u201cpoint people to Christ,\u201d the church says in a flier. Chuck McAlister, an ex-pastor, master storyteller and former Outdoor Channel hunting show host who presides at the events as the Kentucky Baptist Convention\u2019s team leader for evangelism, said 1,678 men made \u201cprofessions of faith\u201d at about 50 such events last year, most in Kentucky.<\/p>\n

In Louisville, he said, more than 500 people showed up on a snowy January day for a gun giveaway at Highview Baptist Church, and 61 made decisions to seek salvation.<\/p>\n

McAlister\u2019s boss, Paul Chitwood, the Kentucky Baptist Convention\u2019s executive director, said such results speak for themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s been very effective,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We hear from an independent Baptist church minister and former director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, both of whom line up on the opposing side of the gun giveaway. And we\u2019re told of two more individuals who didn\u2019t want to participate, including a spokesman for \u00a0the National Rifle Association and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary\u2019s chief spokesman James Smith.<\/p>\n

The most sobering argument, though, comes in the form of a school shooting victim just 12 miles away:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At Paducah\u2019s Lone Oak Baptist Church, which will host Thursday\u2019s event, the Rev. Dan Summerlin said there has been some \u201cpush back\u201d from people who are opposed to firearms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you try something different there will be bashers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Summerlin said he has received some calls and notes from people who lost loved ones at Heath High School, 12 miles to the west, when Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of praying students in 1997, killing three and injuring five others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart aches for those people,\u201d Summerlin said.<\/p>\n

One of Carneal\u2019s victims, Missy Jenkins Smith, who at age 15 was left paralyzed from the chest down, said she was \u201cshocked\u201d when she found out about the event from a reporter.<\/p>\n

Smith, who has two children and works as a motivational speaker and counselor for at-risk students, said that while people have a right to bear arms, \u201cI would have really thought they would have come up with other ways besides this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That doesn\u2019t derail McAlister, though, who offers the colorful quotes one might expect:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day of hanging a banner in front of your church and saying you\u2019re having a revival and expecting the community to show up is over,\u201d said McAlister, who hosted the religious-themed \u201cAdventure Bound Outdoors\u201d on the Outdoor Channel for 16 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to know the hook that will attract people, and hunting is huge in Kentucky,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we get in there and burp and scratch and talk about the right to bear arms and that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he can understand that some people have a problem with giving away guns, \u201cgiven the misuse of guns and our moral decline.\u201d But, he said, \u201cwe certainly don\u2019t advocate violence. We are advocating guns for hunting and protection only.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what Jesus would think of the gun giveaways, McAlister said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but he was pretty handy with the whip when he ran the money-changers out of the temple.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And for those curious about what might go on at such an event, we\u2019re given a glimpse, courtesy of YouTube and a previous gathering in February 2013 in Chattanooga, Tenn. For 30 minutes, McAlister spoke about his family heritage of hunting and gun ownership and did not mention Jesus or God, according to the article, until after he made the group laugh:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one path to know the God who made the great outdoors, and that is through his son, Jesus Christ,\u201d he bellowed. \u201cMy friends, you listen to me and you listen carefully,\u201d he said, lowering his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am here to tell you there is nothing more, nothing else and nothing better. Jesus is the only cure. Jesus is the only hope. That may not be politically correct, but I don\u2019t give a rip about political correctness,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story is fair, it\u2019s balanced, and it provides an interesting glimpse into the world of \u201credneck evangelism\u201d in a state where gun violence has scarred some of its most vulnerable citizens. Give it a read and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Churches offering free items, services or even doughnuts to their neighbors isn\u2019t news. When they offer 25 long guns and shotguns as door prizes, however, people (and the press) take notice. The Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah are making headlines this week for doing just that: inviting 1,000 or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1628,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,27,7,18,3],"tags":[3029,610,3027,3028,551],"class_list":["post-118939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baptists","category-evangelicals","category-journalism","category-people","category-politics","tag-chuck-mcalister","tag-gun-control","tag-kentucky-baptist-convention","tag-lone-oak-baptist-church","tag-usa-today"],"yoast_head":"\nKentucky church gun giveaway story shoots straight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Churches offering free items, services or even doughnuts to their neighbors isn't news. 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